There are a lot of professionals within the industry who will tell you that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is not an important digital marketing tactic for artists. On the surface, I can totally understand this sentiment. However, how do you attract new fans if they can’t find you?
Part of the answer is to play wherever you can and get your name and music out there, but the other part is to focus on getting found online. Getting new music into the hands…er… ears of new audiences has never been easier. Yes, there are lots of artists trying to get their music heard, but all this competition has left the door of opportunity wide open!
The vast majority of artists (even the A-listers) don’t do any SEO on any of their online content that it’s actually pretty easy to have your music stand out. Here are a few ways to optimize your content that you may not have known, and why it’s important.
Ranking YouTube Music Videos
YouTube provides such an opportunity for musicians, especially if you are constantly posting cover songs. A properly optimized YouTube video will rank, not only in YouTube searches, but also in Google searches. Your videos can also appear in the “related videos” section for some pretty high profile videos, which can greatly increase your video views.
I’ve previously written some tips on YouTube video optimization. Check them out!
Once your videos are optimized, and tons of people are watching your awesome videos, it’s important to start linking the videos back to other locations such as: Spotify, iTunes, your social properties, your website, etc. By doing this, you’re making it easier for your new audience to follow you elsewhere and become fans.
Improved Ranking on Google
If you were to search your name or band name, chances are your website will show up. But do you notice what else is showing up? A lot of totally unrelated websites, or websites that mention your music. Wouldn’t it be great if your Spotify profile, Twitter account, Instagram account and iTunes songs showed up here as well?
Optimizing all your owned content will help ensure that your content is dominating the search engine results. This also give you the opportunity to start having your content show up when people are searching for things other than your exact name. Imagine ranking for something like “bands that sound like Old Dominion“?
There are so many opportunities, and since so many people in the music industry don’t value SEO as part of artist promotion, it’s actually pretty easy to start getting noticed this way.
Other SEO Opportunities for Musicians
There are so many optimization opportunities for artists and musicians, you just need to know where to find them, and how to get them to work for you. Some other opportunities for SEO are:
- Optimizing your Spotify artist profile
- Creating playlists on Spotify
- Optimizing your songs on iTunes
- Optimizing your social media profiles
- Creating and optimizing your bandsintown profile
The secret is to work with somebody who can help you identify different optimization opportunities and work with you to get your music heard.
Song of the Day
I’m all about sharing new music that inspires me, or helps me get through the workday. That’s why each blog post includes a song that I’m really into right now, in the hopes that it may do the same for you.
Jesse Gold – Pretty Girl
